What's an STP broker?

Straight Through Processing (STP) means full integration between all market participants, from liquidity providers to investors and the trading platform. In its purest form, an STP broker aggregate prices in real time from liquidity providers and passes client orders onto them. In practice, this also means there is No Dealing Desk (NDD).

Types of STP brokers

However, Forex brokers tend to apply the term loosely and ‘STP’ can mean different things to different brokers. This article describes common traits and differences between STP brokers and suggests ways to check how your own broker operates.

Number of liquidity providers

STP brokers aggregate prices from banks, financial institutions and other liquidity providers (LPs) in the Forex interbank bank market. The price you see on your end is the best-bid and the best-offer (BBBO) across all quotes. This means the bid could come from Bank A and the ask from Bank B.

STP brokers typically work with more than one liquidity provider. However, circumstances can arise when they only have one. For example, this can happen if you trade with an Introducing Broker.

The more liquidity providers your broker works with, the greater the competition and the tighter the spreads.

Fixed or variable spreads

The spread is the difference between the buying and selling price of a currency pair. If you’re quoted EUR/USD at 1.2502/05, the spread is 0.0003 or just 3 pips.

STP brokers usually quote variable spreads because the prices they receive from liquidity providers change dynamically over time. The price you’re quoted adjusts automatically to reflect the BBBO available from your broker’s liquidity providers. Your broker adds his own mark-up to the spread to cover his costs and earn a profit.

However, some brokers can quote fixed spreads instead. This can happen when they have just one liquidity provider. And when they have more, they can achieve this by adjusting the mark-up they apply to the BBBO to ensure that the spreads you see on your end remain the same.

Instant vs. market execution

A regular STP broker fills client orders through instant execution. This means your broker acts as the counterparty to your trades and will hedge these positions with his liquidity providers. This can give rise to re-quotes if your broker has difficulties filling orders at the price you requested. However, instant execution does allow you to enter Stop and Limit Orders at the very same time you open a position, which can help manage your risks.

Other STP brokers offer market execution. When this happens, your broker passes your order directly onto his own liquidity providers. This gives you what is known as Direct Market Access and is one of the purest forms of trading. Liquidity providers will act as the counterparty to your trade and fill your order at the prevailing market price. The downside is that you cannot enter Stop or Limit orders at the time you place an order because the execution price is not known when you click the 'Trade' button.

Trading foreign exchange, contracts for differences or spread bets on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. You could sustain a loss of some or all of your funds if the markets move against you. For this reason, you should not invest more than you could afford to lose. ForexBrokersAZ.com does not accept deposits, advise on investments, deal in investments (as agent or principal) or arrange deals in investments. Information published on this website and in our external communications is factual and for information purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. ForexBrokersAZ.com is owned by Hades Capital Limited, a company registered in England under number 08176698.